[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444533246



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -76,46 +96,83 @@ visibility. They may add a "Fix version" to indicate that 
they're considering
 it for inclusion in the next release, though adding that tag is not a
 commitment that it will be done in the next release.
 
-Advanced use
-
-
-Once you are involved in the project and want to do more on JIRA, such as
-assign yourself an issue, you will need "Contributor" permissions on the
-Apache Arrow JIRA. To get this role, ask on the mailing list for a project
-maintainer's help.
-
-GitHub issues
--
-
-We support `GitHub issues `_ as a
-lightweight way to ask questions and engage with
-the Arrow developer community. We use JIRA for maintaining a queue of
-development work and as the public record for work on the project. So, feel
-free to open GitHub issues, but bugs and feature requests will eventually need
-to end up in JIRA, either before or after completing a pull request. Don't be
-surprised if you are immediately asked by a project maintainer to open a JIRA
-issue.
-
-How to contribute patches
-=
-
-We prefer to receive contributions in the form of GitHub pull requests. Please
-send pull requests against the `github.com/apache/arrow
-`_ repository following the procedure below.
-
-If you are looking for some ideas on what to contribute, check out the JIRA
-issues for the Apache Arrow project. Comment on the issue and/or contact
-d...@arrow.apache.org with your questions and ideas.
-
-If you’d like to report a bug but don’t have time to fix it, you can still post
-it on JIRA, or email the mailing list d...@arrow.apache.org.
+Tips for successful bug reports

+
+No one likes having bugs in their software, and in an ideal world, all bugs
+would get fixed as soon as they were reported. However, time and attention are
+finite, especially in an open-source project where most contributors are
+participating in their spare time. In order for your bug to get prompt
+attention, there are things you can do to make it easier for contributors to
+reproduce and fix it.
+
+When you're reporting a bug, please help us understand the issue by providing,
+to the best of your ability,
+
+* Clear, minimal steps to reproduce the issue, with as few non-Arrow
+  dependencies as possible. If there's a problem on reading a file, try to
+  provide as small of an example file as possible, or code to create one.
+  If your bug report says "it crashes trying to read my file, but I can't
+  share it with you," it's really hard for us to debug.
+* Any relevant operating system, language, and library version information
+* If it isn't obvious, clearly state the expected behavior and what actually
+  happened.
+
+If a developer can't get a failing unit test, they won't be able to know that
+the issue has been identified, and they won't know when it has been fixed.
+Try to anticipate the questions you might be asked by someone working to
+understand the issue and provide those supporting details up front.
+

Review comment:
   I added a couple of links; feel free to add others if you have favorites





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[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444333447



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -124,29 +181,72 @@ To contribute a patch:
   `ARROW-767: [C++] Filesystem abstraction 
`_).
 * Make sure that your code passes the unit tests. You can find instructions how
   to run the unit tests for each Arrow component in its respective README file.
+
+Core developers and others with a stake in the part of the project your change
+affects will review, request changes, and hopefully indicate their approval
+in the end. To make the review process smooth for everyone, try to
+
+* Break your work into small, single-purpose patches if possible. It’s much
+  harder to merge in a large change with a lot of disjoint features, and
+  particularly if you're new to the project, smaller changes are much easier
+  for maintainers to accept.
 * Add new unit tests for your code.
+* Follow the style guides for the part(s) of the project you're modifying.
+  Some languages (C++, Python, and Rust, for example) run a lint check in
+  continuous integration. For all languages, see their respective developer
+  documentation and READMEs for style guidance. In general, try to make it look
+  as if the codebase has a single author, and emulate any conventions you see,
+  whether or not they are officially documented or checked.
+
+When tests are passing and the pull request has been approved by the interested
+parties, a committer will merge the pull request. This is done with a
+command-line utility that does a squash merge, so all of your commits will be
+registered as a single commit to the master branch; this simplifies the
+connection between JIRA issues and commits, and it makes it easier to bisect
+history to identify where changes were introduced. A side effect of this way of
+merging is that your pull request will appear in the GitHub interface to have
+been "closed without merge". Do not be alarmed: if you look at the bottom, you
+will see a message that says "@user closed this in $COMMIT".
+
+Local git conventions
++
+
+If you are tracking the Arrow source repository locally, here are some tips
+for using ``git``.
+
+All Arrow contributors work off of their personal fork of ``apache/arrow``
+and submit pull requests "upstream". Once you've cloned your fork of Arrow,
+be sure to::
+
+$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/apache/arrow
+
+to set the "upstream" repository.
+
+You are encouraged to develop on branches, rather than your own "master" 
branch,
+and it helps to keep your fork's master branch synced with ``upstream/master``.
 
-Thank you in advance for your contributions!
+To start a new branch, pull the latest from upstream first::
 
-Common Git conventions followed within the project
---
+   $ git fetch upstream
+   $ git checkout master
+   $ git reset --hard upstream/master
+   $ git checkout -b $NEW_BRANCH_NAME
 
-If you are tracking the Arrow source repository locally, following some common 
Git
-conventions would make everyone's workflow compatible.  These recommendations 
along with
-their rationale are outlined below.
+It does not matter what you call your branch. Some people like to use the JIRA
+number as branch name, others use descriptive names.
 
-It is strongly discouraged to use a regular ``git merge``, as a linear commit 
history is
-prefered by the project.  It is much easier to maintain, and makes for easier
-``cherry-picking`` of features; useful for backporting fixes to maintenance 
releases.
+Once you have a branch going, you should sync with ``upstream/master``
+regularly, as many commits merge to master every day.
+It is recommended to use ``git rebase`` rather than ``git merge``.

Review comment:
   Honestly I don't think it matters what people do on their branches since 
we squash merge in the end, right?
   
   The last thing I want out of this document is to spark a flame war between 
`rebase` and `merge` partisans. I wouldn't have added this section myself but 
there was a JIRA requesting it and someone else added it this weekend.





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[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444330998



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -124,29 +181,72 @@ To contribute a patch:
   `ARROW-767: [C++] Filesystem abstraction 
`_).
 * Make sure that your code passes the unit tests. You can find instructions how
   to run the unit tests for each Arrow component in its respective README file.
+
+Core developers and others with a stake in the part of the project your change
+affects will review, request changes, and hopefully indicate their approval
+in the end. To make the review process smooth for everyone, try to
+
+* Break your work into small, single-purpose patches if possible. It’s much
+  harder to merge in a large change with a lot of disjoint features, and
+  particularly if you're new to the project, smaller changes are much easier
+  for maintainers to accept.
 * Add new unit tests for your code.
+* Follow the style guides for the part(s) of the project you're modifying.
+  Some languages (C++, Python, and Rust, for example) run a lint check in
+  continuous integration. For all languages, see their respective developer
+  documentation and READMEs for style guidance. In general, try to make it look
+  as if the codebase has a single author, and emulate any conventions you see,
+  whether or not they are officially documented or checked.
+
+When tests are passing and the pull request has been approved by the interested
+parties, a committer will merge the pull request. This is done with a
+command-line utility that does a squash merge, so all of your commits will be
+registered as a single commit to the master branch; this simplifies the
+connection between JIRA issues and commits, and it makes it easier to bisect
+history to identify where changes were introduced. A side effect of this way of
+merging is that your pull request will appear in the GitHub interface to have
+been "closed without merge". Do not be alarmed: if you look at the bottom, you
+will see a message that says "@user closed this in $COMMIT".
+
+Local git conventions
++
+
+If you are tracking the Arrow source repository locally, here are some tips
+for using ``git``.
+
+All Arrow contributors work off of their personal fork of ``apache/arrow``
+and submit pull requests "upstream". Once you've cloned your fork of Arrow,
+be sure to::
+
+$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/apache/arrow
+
+to set the "upstream" repository.
+
+You are encouraged to develop on branches, rather than your own "master" 
branch,
+and it helps to keep your fork's master branch synced with ``upstream/master``.
 
-Thank you in advance for your contributions!
+To start a new branch, pull the latest from upstream first::
 
-Common Git conventions followed within the project
---
+   $ git fetch upstream
+   $ git checkout master
+   $ git reset --hard upstream/master

Review comment:
   Learn something new every day. 
   
   I generally treat `origin/master` as disposable and wish GitHub had a way to 
keep it automatically in sync with `upstream/master`, but that's neither here 
nor there.





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[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444322251



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -76,46 +96,83 @@ visibility. They may add a "Fix version" to indicate that 
they're considering
 it for inclusion in the next release, though adding that tag is not a
 commitment that it will be done in the next release.
 
-Advanced use
-
-
-Once you are involved in the project and want to do more on JIRA, such as
-assign yourself an issue, you will need "Contributor" permissions on the
-Apache Arrow JIRA. To get this role, ask on the mailing list for a project
-maintainer's help.
-
-GitHub issues
--
-
-We support `GitHub issues `_ as a
-lightweight way to ask questions and engage with
-the Arrow developer community. We use JIRA for maintaining a queue of
-development work and as the public record for work on the project. So, feel
-free to open GitHub issues, but bugs and feature requests will eventually need
-to end up in JIRA, either before or after completing a pull request. Don't be
-surprised if you are immediately asked by a project maintainer to open a JIRA
-issue.
-
-How to contribute patches
-=
-
-We prefer to receive contributions in the form of GitHub pull requests. Please
-send pull requests against the `github.com/apache/arrow
-`_ repository following the procedure below.
-
-If you are looking for some ideas on what to contribute, check out the JIRA
-issues for the Apache Arrow project. Comment on the issue and/or contact
-d...@arrow.apache.org with your questions and ideas.
-
-If you’d like to report a bug but don’t have time to fix it, you can still post
-it on JIRA, or email the mailing list d...@arrow.apache.org.
+Tips for successful bug reports

+
+No one likes having bugs in their software, and in an ideal world, all bugs
+would get fixed as soon as they were reported. However, time and attention are
+finite, especially in an open-source project where most contributors are
+participating in their spare time. In order for your bug to get prompt
+attention, there are things you can do to make it easier for contributors to
+reproduce and fix it.
+
+When you're reporting a bug, please help us understand the issue by providing,
+to the best of your ability,
+
+* Clear, minimal steps to reproduce the issue, with as few non-Arrow
+  dependencies as possible. If there's a problem on reading a file, try to
+  provide as small of an example file as possible, or code to create one.
+  If your bug report says "it crashes trying to read my file, but I can't
+  share it with you," it's really hard for us to debug.
+* Any relevant operating system, language, and library version information
+* If it isn't obvious, clearly state the expected behavior and what actually
+  happened.
+
+If a developer can't get a failing unit test, they won't be able to know that
+the issue has been identified, and they won't know when it has been fixed.
+Try to anticipate the questions you might be asked by someone working to
+understand the issue and provide those supporting details up front.
+

Review comment:
   Clearly there is lots of prior art out there on how to write a good bug 
report. I hesitated to add links for the reason you mentioned, but I'll see if 
I can collect a few links that say the same things but in different 
(programming) languages.





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[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444320449



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -168,11 +274,15 @@ remote repo still holds the old history, you would need 
to do a force push. ::
 look at your updates, please ensure you comment on the PR on GitHub as simply 
force
 pushing does not trigger a notification in the GitHub user interface.
 
-Simplifying ``rebase``
-++
+Also, once you have a pull request up, be sure you pull from ``origin``
+before rebasing and force-pushing. Arrow maintainers can push commits directly
+to your branch, which they sometimes do to help move a pull request along.
+In addition, the GitHub PR "suggestion" feature can also add commits to
+your branch, so it is possible that your local copy of your branch is missing
+some additions.

Review comment:
   FWIW I too like the suggestion feature: I find it makes for a better 
being-reviewed experience because trivial or pedantic suggestions can just be 
accepted. In any case, I agree with Joris that I don't read this paragraph as 
an endorsement, just an acknowledgement of a way that `origin` may have commits 
that you don't have locally, even though it is "your" branch.





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[GitHub] [arrow] nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520: ARROW-9189: [Website] Improve contributor guide

[GitBox]

nealrichardson commented on a change in pull request #7520:
URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/7520#discussion_r444318497



##
File path: docs/source/developers/contributing.rst
##
@@ -124,29 +181,72 @@ To contribute a patch:
   `ARROW-767: [C++] Filesystem abstraction 
`_).
 * Make sure that your code passes the unit tests. You can find instructions how
   to run the unit tests for each Arrow component in its respective README file.
+
+Core developers and others with a stake in the part of the project your change
+affects will review, request changes, and hopefully indicate their approval
+in the end. To make the review process smooth for everyone, try to
+
+* Break your work into small, single-purpose patches if possible. It’s much
+  harder to merge in a large change with a lot of disjoint features, and
+  particularly if you're new to the project, smaller changes are much easier
+  for maintainers to accept.
 * Add new unit tests for your code.
+* Follow the style guides for the part(s) of the project you're modifying.
+  Some languages (C++, Python, and Rust, for example) run a lint check in
+  continuous integration. For all languages, see their respective developer
+  documentation and READMEs for style guidance. In general, try to make it look
+  as if the codebase has a single author, and emulate any conventions you see,
+  whether or not they are officially documented or checked.
+
+When tests are passing and the pull request has been approved by the interested
+parties, a committer will merge the pull request. This is done with a
+command-line utility that does a squash merge, so all of your commits will be
+registered as a single commit to the master branch; this simplifies the
+connection between JIRA issues and commits, and it makes it easier to bisect
+history to identify where changes were introduced. A side effect of this way of
+merging is that your pull request will appear in the GitHub interface to have
+been "closed without merge". Do not be alarmed: if you look at the bottom, you
+will see a message that says "@user closed this in $COMMIT".
+
+Local git conventions
++
+
+If you are tracking the Arrow source repository locally, here are some tips
+for using ``git``.
+
+All Arrow contributors work off of their personal fork of ``apache/arrow``
+and submit pull requests "upstream". Once you've cloned your fork of Arrow,
+be sure to::
+
+$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/apache/arrow
+
+to set the "upstream" repository.
+
+You are encouraged to develop on branches, rather than your own "master" 
branch,
+and it helps to keep your fork's master branch synced with ``upstream/master``.
 
-Thank you in advance for your contributions!
+To start a new branch, pull the latest from upstream first::
 
-Common Git conventions followed within the project
---
+   $ git fetch upstream
+   $ git checkout master
+   $ git reset --hard upstream/master
+   $ git checkout -b $NEW_BRANCH_NAME
 
-If you are tracking the Arrow source repository locally, following some common 
Git
-conventions would make everyone's workflow compatible.  These recommendations 
along with
-their rationale are outlined below.
+It does not matter what you call your branch. Some people like to use the JIRA
+number as branch name, others use descriptive names.
 
-It is strongly discouraged to use a regular ``git merge``, as a linear commit 
history is
-prefered by the project.  It is much easier to maintain, and makes for easier
-``cherry-picking`` of features; useful for backporting fixes to maintenance 
releases.
+Once you have a branch going, you should sync with ``upstream/master``
+regularly, as many commits merge to master every day.
+It is recommended to use ``git rebase`` rather than ``git merge``.
 To sync your local copy of a branch, you may do the following::
 
 $ git pull upstream branch --rebase

Review comment:
   IDK personally, and IMO it's hard to give `git` advice because everyone 
has slightly different workflows that work for them





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